Google Docs Translation

WOW 42 - Google Docs Translation

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today I will be talking about one of the Google's technology which was integrated with another. Without puzzling you any more let me say what I'm talking about. I'm talking about integration of Google Translation with Google Docs.

These two were integrated on 27th August. Below is the text that I have typed out in Google Docs. Also see the translation (not transliteration). There are still a few funny words like "Hi there" translated to "Wahan hai", but this is a developing technology and there is still a large area for improvement.

My Text:

Hi there,

This is a sample document to test the functionality of Google's Automatic Translation which was released as a feature to Google Docs.

Thanks,

Danish

Screenshot of Translated text in Hindi:

Danish :)

Worry

WOW 41 - Worry

Today, I'm going with a one liner again; something I came up with yesterday after something which happened with me yesterday.

Don't bother/ worry about things that happens/ going to happpen. Either step in and make some changes (the +ve part) or stand aside (the -ve side) and let it happen.

Danish :)

Licensing "Copyright and Copyleft"

WOW 40 - Licensing "Copyright and Copyleft"

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today let us discuss about a few licensing terms. Everyone will be well aware of the term "Copyright".

Copyright gives the author of an original work an exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete and fixed in a medium. Some jurisdictions also recognize "moral rights" of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work. Copyright is described under the umbrella term intellectual property along with patents and trademarks.

Copyleft on the other hand is opposite to Copyright. Copyleft removes the restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of a work for others and requiring that the same freedoms be preserved in modified versions.

Copyleft is a form of licensing and can be used to modify copyrights for works such as computer software, documents, music and art. In general, copyright law allows an author to prohibit others from reproducing, adapting, or distributing copies of the author's work. In contrast, an author may, through a copyleft licensing scheme, give every person who receives a copy of a work permission to reproduce, adapt or distribute the work as long as any resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by the same copyleft licensing scheme.

Like Copyleft, there are a few other licenses which supports opensource. Check the following Wikipedia link to follow them and compare the list of available licenses.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licences

Thanks,

Danish

WOW 39

WOW 39 - Ringxiety

Good Afternoon Friends,

In today WOW, we will be learning about Ringxiety. Equivalent terms for Ringxiety include phantom ring effect and fauxcellarm. Below is the article from Wiki on Ringxiety.

Ringxiety is a portmanteau neologism formed from the words "ringtone" and "anxiety." It was first coined by David Laramie, a doctoral student at the California School of Professional Psychology, whose dissertation concerned the effects of cell phones on behavior. Ringxiety is described as the sensation and the false belief that one can hear his or her mobile phone ringing or feel it vibrating, when in fact the telephone is not doing so. Other terms for this concept include phantom ring effect and fauxcellarm. It can also be generalized to describe the sensation of hearing one's phone or doorbell ring while doing such things as taking a shower, watching television, or using a noisy device. The reasoning for this relates partially to the idea that humans are particularly sensitive to auditory tones between 1,000 and 6,000 hertz, and basic mobile phone ringers often fall within this range. This frequency range can generally be more difficult to locate spatially, thus allowing for potential confusion when heard from a distance. False vibrations are less well understood, however, and could have psychological or neurological sources.

The phantom ring is a pop culture term used to define the act of hearing a sound similar to one's cell phone's ringtone and mistakenly believing its one's cell phone ringing. It may occur while a person is listening to the radio or watching television.

Danish :)

WOW 38

WOW 38 - FileSystem

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today I'm going to talk about Filesystems. Many may ask "Filesystem; what is that thing?". Well, heads up; you are reading this message which is stored in a Filesystem.

Filesystem means "A way of organizing files" or the hierarchical arrangement of directories. This applies to a network, a computer, a disk, or a partition (i.e., a logically independent section of a disk). A filesystem in the second sense can contain multiple filesystems in the first sense. Thus, for example, a HDD, computer or network can contain multiple types of filesystems. However, a partition can contain only a single type of filesystem.

There is a huge number of filesystem(s) available throughout. A few popular ones include:

1) Windows:

a) FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT)

b) NTFS

c) WinFS (coming up)

2) Linux:

a) EXT (ext2, ext3, ext4)

b) HPFS

c) GFS

d) XFS

3) Mac:

a) HFS

b) HFS Plus

4) Optical Media:

a) CDFS

b) UDF/ UDFS

5) GMail:

a) GmailFS/ GFS (refer: http://labs.google.com/papers/gfs.html)

Check out this Wiki page to find information about the huge number of file system and their comparison.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems

Danish :)

WOW 37

WOW 37 - Google Insights

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today I'll be talking about Google Insights (still in Beta) which is similar to Google Trends but only better. Before looking into what Google Insights are, I'll give you an overview about Trends. Both Trends and Insights gives us an idea of:

1) What the user searches for?

2) Where do they belong to?

3) What are the hot Searches? and so on.

Using Trends and Insights, we would be able to find the popularity of an item.

Google Trends:

Google Trends shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. In the graphical result, the horizontal axis of the main graph represents time (starting from some time in 2004), and the vertical is how often a term is searched for relative to the total number of searches, globally.

Google Insights:

Google Insights is similar to but more advanced than Google Trends. In Google Insights, in addition to the features offered by Google Trends, we also have:

1) The Categories info.

2) The region info. in the form of a Heat Map.

3) Rising Trends in Search.

4) Download results in Excel.

I have highlighted these areas in the Screenshot. The feature I liked most is the link under the Heat Map named "View change over time". Expand it and press on play to see the change in the search results over time.

Link:

1) Google Insights (http://www.google.com/insights/search/)

2) Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends/)

3) Google Hot Trends (http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends)

Thanks,

Danish

WOW 36

WOW 36 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Good Afternoon Friends,
Today lets enter the world of Psychology. People who study Psychology for sure study about Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs.
In this he included his observations of humans' innate curiosity and studied people like Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass and many others. Maslow also studied the healthiest one percent of the college student population.

It is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the lowest level is associated with physiological needs, while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to identity and purpose. The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met.

The five levels are:

1. Physiological needs
2. Safety needs
3. Social needs
4. Esteem
5. Self-Actualization

Check out the link given to read and understand more about this. You will never regret the time spent on this.

Link: http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp

Danish :)

WOW 35

WOW 35 - From My Diary 01

Good Afternoon Friends,
Just to change the mood of WOW. Today I'll be sharing a page from my Diary. This is from the page which read August 14, 2009.

It started raining in Neyveli sometime around 21:30. My Dad was out at work and is expected back @ 22:00. Normally, he'll be back by 22:15 but today it would be an exception; exception coz it is raining like hell. My Dad left his bike for me (to roam around) and took his moped to work. Mom, mom... where are you?? Hmmmm.. so you are out here.
Ok folks, this is my Mom, she knows a lot about Love. Think why I say so; She's been out there at the doorstep with the gates open and watching out for my Dad waiting to return from work.
"C'mon Mom", I said to her. "How do ou expect Dad to reurn in such heavy rains? Go, take some rest; I'll watch the door."
She's my Mom. No amount of persuading will make her budge. I'm her son and am much more determined. Well, atleast now she's not standing at the doorstep; she's reclining on the cot which we have in the hall.

Folks, this is Love, she could have done many things like watching her Favorite TV show, take rest after a day's work, do anything else..... but..... she preferred to wait.

There is one thing that makes me wonder: "Do we mean all these things when we say someone 'I Love You'?"

Danish :)

WOW 34

WOW 34 - Google Caffeine

Good Afternoon Friends,

In recent years, we have seen several search engines crawling all over the Internet. A few of them I liked include Cuil and Bing.

When Bing was launched in June 2009, it challenged Google by giving bigger and better search results. Google with its new Search Engine "Sandbox" named "Google Caffeine" now threatens Bing. I have given the link for all the search engines below. Do try and compare search results from each of these search engines and you will find the difference yourself. Comparison between Old and New Google Search engine is as follows:

Link:

1) Google : http://www.google.com/

2) Caffeine : http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

3) Bing : http://www.bing.com/

4) Cuil : http://www.cuil.com/

Thanks,

Danish

WOW 33

WOW 33 - iGoogle (Social Gadgets)

Good Afternoon Friends,
Most of you who use Google Services would be well aware of iGoogle (A personalized Google homepage) which was launched a long time ago. We would be able to add a few gadgets to our homepage and personalize it. We also had a smart tab feature in iGoogle using which you would be able to add related Gadgets to a single tab. I have attached a screenshot of adding the smart tab facility in case you need it.

Last Thursday, in addition to the existing features provided by iGoogle, Google added a list of new gadgets; calling it Social Gadgets. There is a big list to choose from. This includes games like Chess, Crossword, Scrabble among which a few of them could be played with your friends. Comics, Horoscope, Sharing Photos, messages, etc.

Why don't you visit the site "http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/ig/social/" to learn more about the features that were added or head directly to your iGoogle page to add these gadgets.

Danish :)

WOW 32

WOW 32 - Pacemaker

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today I'm going to talk about something which assists our heart to have a stabilized heart rate. This is useful for those people who either have a block in their heart or have a very slow heart rate.

A pacemaker is a medical device which uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart.

Modern pacemakers are externally programmable and allow the cardiologist to select the optimum pacing modes for individual patients. With the advent of information technology age, the pacemakers have gone up in their standards. There is nothing to wonder to know that Pacemaker has gone WiFi.

Now, a woman in New York has become the first in the world to receive a pacemaker that communicates wirelessly with a monitoring service, which is in turn accessed daily by her doctor. Check this link to check this news out on the web.

Link: http://www.switched.com/2009/08/11/u-s-woman-gets-web-ready-pacemaker/

Danish :)

WOW 31

WOW 31 - Kung fu

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today let us talk about something about "Kung fu". Many of you might confuse Kung fu with a form of Martial art. However, that is not completely true. In Chinese, kung fu can be used in contexts completely unrelated to martial arts, and refers colloquially to any individual accomplishment or skill cultivated through long and hard work.

Kung fu or gongfu or gung fu is a Chinese term often used by speakers of the English language to refer to Chinese martial arts. Its original meaning is somewhat different, referring to one's expertise in any skill, not necessarily martial. The Chinese literal equivalent of "Chinese martial art" would be "wushu".

Kung/ gong/ gung means "Achievement" or "Merit" and fu means "Man" or "Human". So, kung fu ideally means "Human Achievement".

Kung fu involves training both body and mind, both Internal and External.

Internal training includes the heart, the spirit, the mind, breathing and strength.

External training includes the hands, the eyes, the body and stances.

Kung fu is a way of life. Let us all try to apply Kung fu in our daily lives.

Danish :)

WOW 30

WOW 30 - Antimatter

Good Afternoon Friends,

We all know that matter traditionally refers to the substance that bodies are made of. One common way to identify this "substance" is through its properties: for example, matter is anything that has both mass and volume.

Antimatter is similar to matter in the sense that it has particles of the same mass and properties as their counterparts but with opposite electrical charges.

Antimatter can be found in a few parts of the Universe. Matter and Antimatter cannot co-exist because when they collide they annihilate causing total destruction. We can find references to Antimatter in several movies, the latest being "Angels and Demons" starring Tom Hanks. People who have watched this movie can understand how powerful Antimatter could be. Well, if you havn't noticed this is the part when the Camerlengo Ventresca takes the Antimatter in a Heli so that it could annihilate in the atmosphere. (A white bright light)

Well, Antimatter could also be used for constructive purposes. Scientists at CERN are working on harnessing the power of Antimatter. They use LHC (Large Hadron Collider) to create antimatter. Thanks to Dan Brown, for spreading this knowledge to the world.

Danish :)

WOW 29

WOW 29 - Google Labs (wrt GMail)

Good Afternoon Friends,

A few people may be well versed in what I'm going to talk about today. However, I would like to say something regarding this in WOW.

Google Labs:

Google Labs is a website demonstrating new Google projects "that aren't quite ready for prime time". It serves as a testing ground for new services being developed. This is a way for Google to gain feedback on the products before releasing the final versions. Google's services do not always appear on the Labs page; some are beta tested by invitation-only, like Gmail and Google Calendar once were..

To know more about Google labs, visit both of these links. There is so many things to explore out there.

Link 1: http://www.googlelabs.com/

Link 2: http://labs.google.co.in/

There are around 50+ Lab features in GMail. To access them, login to your GMail and click on Settings in the Google Navigation Bar. Choose Labs and use the ones you require most.

A few things that I would like you to explore in GMail labs are:

1) Multiple Inboxes

2) Forgotten Attachment Detector

3) Vacation Time!

4) Undo Send

5) Inserting images

Thanks,

Danish

WOW 28

WOW 28 - GMail ADS

Good Afternoon Friends,
Going back to yesterday's WOW, I have indeed received a lot of questions for my answers. A few of my friends made them were so funny that I literally rolled on the floor laughing. The sad part is I didn't get a satisfactory question fro my answer.

Leaving that behind, lets proceed to today's WOW. Whenever, I type out email or read email in GMail. I have noticed that they add their ads to the right pane. If you still wondering what I am talking about check this out.

At times, the ads can be so disgusting, well right now I'm seeing couple of ads related to post free ads and a Colgate Tooth Paste ad. Wow! That's weird.

Yesterday, I read on the net that this can be prevented. Type out the following two sentence. This will take care of the ads. Maybe you could include them as part of your signature. The golden sentences are:

I enjoy the massacre of ads. This sentence will slaughter ads without a messy bloodbath.

Maybe you could change the font color to white so that this goes unseen. Check this out to see the difference.

Have a great day without any ads.


Danish :)

WOW 27

WOW 27 - Famous vs Notorious

Good Afternoon Friends,
Today's WOW would be a little bit interesting for people who like to be challenged. Go ahead, show me what you have got.
Today, I have an answer. What I need is a Question. I would be very happy if one could come up with a question. The question will be shared @ the end of this message.

Giving a slight introduction, I would like you to see the meaning of the following two words:
1) Famous: (definition from Google) celebrated: widely known and esteemed; "a famous actor"; "a celebrated musician"; "a famed scientist"; "an illustrious judge"
2) Notorious: (definition from Google) ill-famed: known widely and usually unfavorably; "a notorious gangster"; "the tenderloin district was notorious for vice";

Seeing the above two words, we can understand that both have the same meaning, but one is in a negative sense. i.e., Famous means fame for some good activity whereas Notorious means fame for some bad activity.

So the question goes like this:
Q: What is the ________ for the word famous?
A: Notorious.

Folks, saddle up your seat belts and fill in the blank to complete the question. Eagerly waiting for the person who would bring the best question to my answer.

Danish :)

WOW 26

WOW 26 - ESP/ ESC and Traction

Good Afternoon Friends,
Yesterday, we talked about ABS (Antilock Braking System). Today we shall discuss on ESP (Electonic Stability Program) AKA ESC (Electronic Stability Control) and Traction.

Electronic Stability Program/ Control:
Like ABS, ESP is also designed to improve vehicle's handling, particularly at the limits where the driver might lose control of the vehicle. Say, you are using only ABS and have avoided collision with a vehicle. ESP determines how stable your vehicle is after your steer away. At times, when we steer a lot towards a side, the vehicle tends to capsize. ESP prevents this.

ESP enhances Driver control and helps maintain directional stability under all conditions.

ESP compares the driver's intended direction in steering and braking inputs, to the vehicle's response, via lateral acceleration, rotation (yaw) and individual wheel speeds. ESC then brakes individual front or rear wheels and/or reduces excess engine power as needed to help correct understeer (plowing) or oversteer (fishtailing).
Traction Control:
* In road cars, Traction Control is used mainly as a safety feature in high-performance cars, which would otherwise need very sensitive throttle input to keep them from spinning when accelerating, especially in wet or snowy conditions. It is also used in off-road vehicles to enhance traction on loose surfaces.
* In race cars, Traction Control is used as a performance enhancement, allowing maximum traction under acceleration without wheel spin. When accelerating out of turn, it keeps the tyres at the optimum slip angle.
On road, Traction is generally combined with ABS. This gives the vehicle a better grip of the road. Very useful for slippery roads.

ABS, Traction Control and ESP when combined together in a single package gives the driver safety, stability and control over the vehicle. Bikers, listen up; ABS and Traction control are available for Bikes too. Not sure about ESP though.

Check these videos from YouTube to understand more about ABS, Traction Control and ESP.
Link 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3m24bjkfg0 (5 mins 33 secs)
Link 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR1SSxpKitE (9 mins 37 secs)


Danish :)

WOW 25

WOW 25 - ABS

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today let us go and explore the motoring world. A section that was never touched in WOW till date. Most of us drive, the most important thing while driving is to have the control over the vehicle that you drive (i.e., to Drive and not be Driven). When the control is lost, accidents happen. Today I am going to discuss something which helps us have control over our vehicle (steer our vehicle) even when we apply brakes. That is called Anti-lock Braking System (ABS).

ABS when combined with a few other safety features like Traction Control and ESP gives us a whole lot control and improves our driving. Today I will concentrate on ABS.

When we apply our brakes, for a vehicle w/o ABS, the wheel gets locked and we will be unable to steer the vehicle just because our wheels are locked. With ABS, the wheels do get locked (to brake) but it has complete control over it. i.e., The wheels does not remain locked till the moment we take our legs off the brake pedal. The ABS controls the brake and it knows well when to slow down (lock) and when to accelerate (unlock) the wheels providing us with the ability to steer away.

A typical anti-lock system can apply and release braking pressure up to 20 times a second.

With such kind of system, we know that we always remain safe.

Check out the flash from http://www.bosch.com/assets/en/company/innovation/theme03.htm to see a graphical representation of ABS @ work.

Also check out this 53 seconds video from YouTube which demonstrates ABS @ work.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq4DDMMoomU&feature=player_embedded

Looks like this edition of WOW turned up the enthu in a few motorists.

Danish :)

WOW 24

WOW 24 - Months

Good Afternoon Friends,

Hope all of you liked WOW - Monthly Make-up.

August - This is a month named after Augustus Caesar. Till 8 B.C., this month was called as Sextilis in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the ancient Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. They were added by Numa Pompilius about 700 BC. January and February remained the last two months of the calendar year until the time of the decemvirs (c. 450 BC), when it became the first and second month respectively.

Find below the details of all the months:

* January:

Named after Janus, the God of doors and gates.

This month opens the year.

* February:

Named after Februalia, a time period when sacrifices were made to atone for sins.

This was a Roman month of sacrifices and purification.

* March:

Named after Mars, the God of war.

Start of year for soldiers.

* April:

From aperire, Latin for "Open" (buds).

This is the month when trees open their leaves.

* May:

Named after Maia, the Goddess of growth of plants.

This is the month when plants really start to grow.

* June:

From Junius, Latin for the Goddess Juno.

Juno - Queen of the Gods.

* July:

Named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.

He reorganised the calendar.

* August:

Named after Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.

He thought he was at least as important as Julius Caesar!

* September:

From septem, Latin for Seven.

Seventh month (counting from March)

* October:

From octo, Latin for Eight.

Eighth month (counting from March)

* November:

From novem, Latin for Nine.

Ninth month (counting from March)

* December:

From decem, Latin for Ten.

Tenth month (counting from March)

Now, that's the entire list.

Danish :)